Anansi Boys

by Neil Gaiman

Publisher:

William Morrow

Copyright:

2005

ISBN:

0-06-051518-X

Format:

Hardcover

Pages:

336

Fat Charlie really doesn't like his nickname. For one thing, he's not
fat, and hasn't been since a brief period in his adolescence. For another
thing, he can't manage to get rid of it. You see, his father called him
that, and for some reason names his father give stick. Fat Charlie also
isn't particularly fond of his father. He's not an evil person. He's
just hideously embarassing, and has been all of Fat Charlie's life. He
delighted in playing pranks on Fat Charlie throughout his childhood, many
of which were embarassing indeed.

However, Fat Charlie doesn't mind his life. He has a fiancé
and a not uncomfortable life, even if he's never been particularly
successful. He does hate his job, and particularly his boss, but he
manages.

Then his father dies, in a particularly embarassing way. And after the
funeral, he discovers that his father was a god. Anansi, to be precise,
the African spider trickster god. Also, he has a brother that he never
knew about, a brother who is a god himself, who's outgoing and dynamic and
cool and all of the things Fat Charlie isn't. A brother who he makes the
mistake of getting in touch with. And then his life starts falling apart.
Birds and lions rejoin their ancient wars with spiders, reality ends up
being more malleable than Fat Charlie had ever realized, and he discovers
just how evil a stoat can be.

Neil Gaiman has gone from a comic book writer with cult popularity to
someone whose books debut at the top of the New York Times
best-seller list, and every step along the way has been well-deserved.
Anansi Boys is his latest and one of the most anticipated novels of
2005. It lives up to the hype, but at the same time it may not be the
book that people were expecting.

First, it's not a sequel, prequel, or in any way related to American
Gods, except that Mr. Nancy (Anansi) appears in both books. The
capability of gods is vaguely similar, but the tone, the subject matter,
and the style of the book are significantly different and there is no
connection of plot. It is also not a heavy book; in fact, it's the most
light-hearted adult book from Gaiman since Stardust and in tone feels more like Good Omens (without,
of course, the Pratchett). There isn't much of Gaiman's surprisingly deep
philosophy, nor the borderline horror that turns up in places in
American Gods.

What this is instead is a delightful, humorous homage to the Anansi
stories of west African folklore, the stories that many Americans know
best in their Uncle Remus Br'er Rabbit version (and Gaiman points out
several times how silly it is to confuse a rabbit and a spider). It's a
book full of moral ambiguities, strange characters, animal gods, and dry
wit in the face of absurdity. It's a book about breaking out of a normal
life, taking riskier choices, and defeating brute violence through
intelligent cunning and trickery. It's also a book that comments on the
stupidity of flamingoes. At first I was a touch disappointed that
Anansi Boys didn't have the philosophical depth of some of Gaiman's
earlier work, but it's so much fun that I couldn't help but forgive it.

Much of the charm of this book is Gaiman's mastery of metaphor. Rather
than simply use a metaphor as part of a description, Gaiman plays with
them, leading the reader by the hand into the heart of the absurd truth
and expanding on the metaphor just enough to leave one laughing and
nodding at the same time.

"I won't live forever," sniffed her mother, in a way that implied that
she had every intention of living forever, getting harder and thinner
and more stonelike as she went, and eating less and less, until she
would be able to live on nothing more than air and wax fruit and
spite.

And yet, he never belabors the point, knowing just when to let it go and
move on. It's a delight, and only one of the many proofs of Gaiman's
writing skill that shine through every line. Regardless of theme, Gaiman
is simply an excellent writer and storyteller, and he captures the
entertainment and moral barbs of an oral tradition wonderfully.

I don't know if all of this will survive to a paperback printing, but the
hardcover of Anansi Boys is also beautifully typeset and laid out.
It is one of the most beautifully readable books I've read recently,
sufficiently so that it stands out from the pack. It's full of little
touches like carefully chosen varying font sizes for Gaiman's chapter
subtitles or Gaiman's own sketch of a spider on the last page, and the
font, layout, and section markings are uniformly readable and clear.
William Morrow did a commendable job.

For those who have read Gaiman's other work, Anansi Boys will feel
like a new story from an old friend. For those who haven't, I think it
falls short of his best work by a hair but it would be an excellent
introduction. The people are a bit more exaggerated and the morals less
disguised, which means it didn't leave me thinking about people and
philosophy for as long afterwards as Gaiman has in the past, but the
delight of the humor and quality of the writing makes up for that.
Arachnophobes will have difficulty with a few scenes; otherwise,
recommended for readers of nearly any taste. If you like fantasy,
mythology, and fairy tale at all, Gaiman won't disappoint.